Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Tony Gill Carpet Smart on January 30, 2013, 10:48:43 am
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I was asked today if after cleaning a chair that was fire retardent i would need to treat it to make it retardent again
Does cleaning affect it ??? Never been asked before
Thanks Tony
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I did a WMC about 2 years ago and when I
rang the fire retardent supplier he said yes
it would need re applying.
It's pretty much the same as protectors even
down to applying it from what I remember.
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i would guess that if the chair needs cleaning then the fire retardent has all ready worn off due to usage and soiling.
only guessing like.
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The cleaning should have no affect on the flame retardency, if it did you would be re - applying it every day of every week.
Unless the furniture is about 25 years old in which case it would have been applied by spray at some point in the past and would have well worn away by now.
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It maybe than the foam is fire retardant or the fabric has a back coating. If the outside of the fabric has been treated my thoughts are similar to others - your cleaning likely hasnt affected it but wear over time will have. Offer to retreat it if they want. Products available from eg Restormate.
Mike
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Fire retardant covers were introduced in about 1980 most at that time were bonding a backing onto existing fabric with self extinguishing fabric slowly becoming the norm after. Thie fr properties should be inherent in these fabric. The aftertreatments were designed for fabrics pre this date and for fabrics that were not fr in use in the commercial sector. Fr foam was introduced in about 1985. The after treatments do vary a lot in perfomance with some claiming to be permanent and some claiming only to last about 18 months on heavily used upholstery etc.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com (http://www.carpetcleanercardiff.com)
Peter
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As Peter says a lot of modern fabrics are designed to be flame retardent . Topical treatments dont work like protectors. They are salts solution which absorb into the fabric, the carrier fluid evaporates off leaving crystals in the fabric. It is these crystals which cause flames to splutter and extinquish and prevent them spreading. Wet cleaning will obviously remove these salts so the item would need retreating.
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John when can you get delivery of the dri eaz mini pods
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Still waiting delivery, I'll chase them up tomorrow.
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What is the price tag John
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Thank you All for your advice
Regards Tony
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As Peter says a lot of modern fabrics are designed to be flame retardent . Topical treatments dont work like protectors. They are salts solution which absorb into the fabric, the carrier fluid evaporates off leaving crystals in the fabric. It is these crystals which cause flames to splutter and extinquish and prevent them spreading. Wet cleaning will obviously remove these salts so the item would need retreating.
Need to make it clear here that it would only need re-applying if as mentioned above it had been applied out side of manufacture by pressure sprayer or otherwise.
Any upholstered furniture bought today will be flame retarded and will not need a re-application if cleaned.
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"inherent in the fabric"
Peter